


Spanner in the works

by RiethTheLost



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Genre: D.va is a pvper, F/F, Most major characters will at least receive mentions, No one's really sure what sombra does, takes place during the plot of RPO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2018-12-03 19:05:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11538564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiethTheLost/pseuds/RiethTheLost
Summary: Sombra has no interest in Halliday's contest. If she needed money, it wasn't hard to get it, legally or otherwise. What she is interested in, is keeping the Oasis how it is, out of the hands of IOI. Her goal is to do anything in her power to keep them from gaining control of the simulation.





	1. Damage Done

**Oasis arena, planet Odin**

Hana Song, known to the world as D.va, sat in a waiting room preparing for her PVP match. Since the arena was frequented by Gunters, the scoreboard was always up on a wall opposite the benches where avatars sat while they waited for their fights. Next to the scoreboard was a list of fights, and next to that, cameras showing any active battles. Hana was a little intimidated seeing her opponent's name sitting there, in third place on the scoreboard, but she didn't let it show. The scoreboard had only started filling up a few days ago, so the only real names on it were the top five Gunters in the world. As the announcer called her avatar's name, and her opponents, she stood and walked towards the door that led out into the main arena floor. Her opponent stood opposite her, grinning like the Cheshire cat. The announcer called out to the assembled crowd, and anyone tuning in via Vid-feed. Hana's own POV channel was playing her view of the fight, a break from it's usual pro Starcraft tournaments and other games. She wasn't sure what Aech's channel was playing.

"Allllright ladies and gentlemen! The battle between the famous Gunter Aech, and D.va, is about to begin!" The announcer's voice was extremely excited. Hana drew her weapons, and prepared to fight. She hoped Aech would fall prey to the trap most of her opponents did- expecting her to be weak due to her avatar's appearance. A teenager on the short side didn't really strike fear into the hearts of her enemies, but those who underestimated her quickly learned why they shouldn't.

Aech moved like a demon, rapidly closing in and striking at D.va before she could react. Staggering backwards, she caught herself and deflected Aech's next blow. D.va grunted with the effort, grimacing. "So much for underestimating me..." She growled. Aech laughed.

"Don't think I judge an avatar by their appearance, D.va. After all, no bearing on stats whatsoever." Aech's continued assault kept D.va on the defensive, but she knew if she didn't start fighting back soon he'd find an opening and the fight would be over before she could respond. She struck back, pushing Aech away and into a pillar, which stunned him for a brief moment. Lunging forwards, she slashed at him only to have her sword bite stone as he ducked out of the way. She wrenched her sword away and spun, slicing an arc around her which caught Aech's arm, causing him to gasp in pain. She grinned and launched herself forwards again, and he barely dodged in time. Then, Aech fell, clutching at his side. Had she hit him? She didn't think she had. Either way, this was her chance! She ran forwards and swung her sword overhand, aiming to end the fight then and there.

Aech laughed as he stood from his faked injury, moved out of the way, grabbed her blade and yanked it out of her hand, swinging his other arm so that his elbow caught her in the jaw. Dazed, Hana staggered backwards and was soon at the end of not only Aech's blade, but her own. She held her hands up in surrender. The announcer's voice, loud enough that with her head spinning it hurt, rung out to the audience.

"And Aech has done it again! Another opponent beaten with barely a scratch on our victor!" Her account automatically swapped her feed back to it's normal showings, and uploaded the recording of the battle as a separate download on her main blog page. Aech handed her blade back, and flashed the same grin.

"Good game, D.va. You fought well, but you need to learn when to hold back. I beat you because you got overconfident near the end, and thought you'd hit me when you hadn't." His tone wasn't condescending, he sounded like he genuinely wanted to help her improve.

Hana nodded, recovering from her dazed state. "Thanks, good game to you too, Aech." Still holding the side of her head where she'd been elbowed, she took her sword back and left the arena. Once she reached a teleportation terminal, she teleported back to the closest terminal to her main base of operations, Then flew the customized Mech she'd bought with the winnings from her last Starcraft tournament to the small planetoid that held it. Parking her Mech in her hangar, She opened a window to check what messages she'd received during the fight. Most were unsolicited, so they were marked as such, but a few were endorsements so she highlighted those to reply to later. As for messages from her approved contact list, there was only one. She opened up a chat window to talk to the sender.

Sombra: "Hey Chica, if you were looking to get the copper key looks like now's your chance. The clans just bombed the hell out of the IOI shields until they fell. They flooded the place with so many Gunters that it's impossible for the sixers to set the shields up again."

D.va: "I'd do it, but the contest lost me a while ago. Sure it'd be nice to win that much money but I've not been following it for a long time, and I'm not terribly dedicated to learning that much about the 80s. I'll definitely watch it from a distance, but I don't think I'll be participating in the fight. What about you though? You said yourself you'd hate it if IOI got control of the Oasis."

Sombra: "I don't need the money, so I have no interest in winning the contest. Additionally, I wouldn't want a controlling stake in GSS. I much prefer being unknown, which is one of IOI's main ideas for when they get control; Goodbye user anonymity."

D.va: "I see. Well, lets hope someone finds a way to keep them from getting the jade key, whenever it's found."

D.va closed the chat window after saying goodbye, and logged out of the Oasis. Pulling her visor off, she began to change out of her haptic suit into jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket. She went outside into the cold air, walking off to the nearest fast food place to pick up something to eat. Moving to Columbus had it's perks, like high speed Oasis access, constant power, and good food in close proximity, but she missed her family. They had encouraged her to go, but even so she felt like she had abandoned them.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Sombra's home, unknown location**

Sombra raised her hand, creating several windows with various newsfeeds open. Most were mentioning the hiding place of the copper key being accessible, though one she was interested in had a video of D.va and Aech's fight. After watching it, she moved the window aside, minimizing it for later. She sat up, pulling her visor off and climbing out of her haptic chair. Her food had arrived, according to her computer, so she opened her door, picked up the box of Chinese food, or rather, the only slightly gross approximation that american restaurants called Chinese food, brought it inside, and began to eat. Sombra hadn't seen the sun since the third year of the hunt, and she didn't intend to unless forced outside for whatever reason. The underground room she lived in had everything she needed, anyway, so she didn't see the point. A screen on her wall lit up and displayed an IOI transport moving between two planets- one of which Sombra's avatar had logged out on. She set her food on her table, logged back in, and launched her preparations.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**IOI transport ship #34509, above planet Tyrant**

IOI employees sat in the living quarters of the massive transport ship, milling about while they awaited their landing on the next planet Sorrento had scheduled for search for the jade key. With a warning claxon, screens appeared on nearly every wall, warning of an attack from the surface of the planet they were passing. It seemed there was a private fortress somewhere on that planet launching anti-ship weapons at them. Drones were quickly dispensed to deal with the attack, but while that was happening, a second assault had gone unnoticed from elsewhere on the globe. The ship's shields rapidly went down under the assault, and Sixer avatars rushed to evac pods to escape the destruction of the vessel. As the pods flew towards the surface, anti-air flak cannons activated, blowing escape pod after escape pod out of the sky. It was only then that they realized they had been flying over an IOI compound- Why were their own guns firing on them? 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**nearby wilderness, planet Tyrant**

Sombra resisted the urge to laugh like a supervillain. Her sabotage had worked like a charm. The one artifact she never went anywhere without, the gloves simply dubbed 'hackerman's gloves' after a short made for netflix decades prior, allowed her to reprogram rudimentary AI simply by being near them.(No effect on non-robotic NPCs or some of the higher-end defenses, though.) It had been a simple enough task days before to sneak into the IOI compound by disguising herself as a Sixer, adjusting targeting parameters for their anti-air and anti-ship weaponry. With any luck, they wouldn't figure out the problem until more ships came to the rescue and they too would be blown out of the sky. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, but she knew things like this pissed the Sixers off to no end. She knew it'd piss them off even more if it ever came to light a single person was responsible for such an attack, but that would lead to them zeroing in on her, and quickly. She couldn't afford that, not while her avatar was still only 20th level. Not for the first time, she wished she'd joined the PVP arenas with D.va, since arena matches were huge sources of XP. She picked her contact card for D.va out of her pocket, and read out her level, since it had probably changed since last she looked. The card looked like something to hang on the end of a keychain, with a rabbit's head embossed on it's surface. on the back, it read:

D.va: Level 48 Warrior. 

Sombra compared it to her own card, which was a stylized skull-shaped coin covered in binary on one side, with 'Sombra, Level 20 Cyberpunk' engraved on the other side. The binary, written extremely small, actually read out to 'Sombra' as well, but since D.va was the only one with her contact card, and she didn't read binary, it was a bit of a pointless addition. Seeing D.va's card reminded her of how they'd met, a year before.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Space above the planetoid Kerrigan, one year ago**

Sombra was panicking. Her tiny ship, fast but very fragile, had taken a hit from a Gunter who thought she'd be easy prey. Turns out he'd been right, since that one hit had knockd her engines out and she had gotten caught in a planetoid's gravity. She ejected before the ship was destroyed fully, her escape pod falling to the surface. As she climbed her way out, she heard the sound of another ship landing behind her. The Gunter had landed to finish the job. Sombra sprinted away from her pod as the gunter ripped into it, claiming anything that wasn't nailed down, then ripping out the nails. After he was done, he started to give chase. Sombra had gained just enough of a head start to reach a building on the surface, and she pounded on the door. "Help! Please! Open the door! Dios mio, he's getting closer, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" just as she was about to pound on it again, the door hissed open. She dived through it and it closed behind her, locking the Gunter outside. She looked around, seeing that she was in a hangar. in one corner was a repair bay for small craft, and in another was blueprints for what looked like a personal mech. She heard the sound of footsteps, and a young, female avatar opened a door coming from further within, looking at her with a grim expression.

"Mind telling me what you're doing pounding on my front door?" The avatar spoke, one hand on a sword's hilt strapped to her back.

Sombra immediately raised her hands in surrender."I was trying to escape someone who was going to kill me! He destroyed my ship above your planetoid, I'm lucky I survived at all! Please don't kill me." Now wasn't the time for her normal snark.

The avatar seemed to relax a bit, her grip on her sword's hilt loosening. "Alright, that's that answered. Name?"

Sombra nodded. "Sombra. My name is Sombra."

"Sombra, eh? Means 'shadow' right? Alright, I suppose I should probably tell you my name, too. I'm D.va."

Sombra couldn't help but express her shock. "D.va? You mean the PVPer/Starcraft pro D.va?"

D.va grinned, obviously happy to meet someone who knew of her. "The one and only!"

Their conversation continued for a time, while they waited for the Gunter who had attacked Sombra to leave. Eventually they exchanged contact cards, and D.va offered Sombra a ride off-world, considering her ship was a flaming wreckage. Sombra accepted, and soon was back on a public world, able to find a teleportation terminal to return to her base of operations, a small, well-hidden bunker on a public world. It's rent was cheap, but it was in a public area so it was constantly under threat of someone finding and looting it. Retreating inside, she logged out of the simulation.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Space near Planet Tyrant, present day**

Sombra put the contact cards away as her personal ship took off, then called up D.va again, this time with a video call. "Hey, you might want to avoid the area around Planet Tyrant. IOI's gone nuts because someone fucked with their anti-air defenses and made them blow their own ship out of the sky. They're swarming the surface looking for whoever did it, and setting up an orbital minefield to catch anyone trying to escape."

D.va raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And I'm guessing that someone was you? No one else would be crazy enough to walk into a sixer compound on their own."

Sombra started laughing. "Guilty as charged, chica."

D.va nodded. "So, how many did you kill? You trying to enter the clans 86 the Suxors competition as a solo?"

"I don't know, but it was a transport ship so the real prize is in how much supply I just blew to hell. It's going to cost IOI a fortune to replace all that, and the ship. Not the hugest setback in their hunt for the jade key, but it'll piss them off." Sombra was almost reluctant to end the conversation- waging a one woman crusade against the second most powerful company in the world (after GSS itself) wasn't a task that made her many friends. "You got any more pvp matches coming up?"

Her friend grinned. "Sure do! I have a feeling I'll win this one. Can't be starting a loss streak now! Anyway, I gotta go. I need to get to the arena to prepare."

Sombra nodded, a little sad. "Alright, talk to you later." The video call ended, And Sombra sat back in her chair. She knew it was a bad idea to keep this friendship with D.va going, since it probably put the PVPer in danger if IOI ever figured out who Sombra was. She brought up the screens for the various cameras around her real world home, and as she did she saw a black car speed by, with the IOI logo stamped on the side. Even though she knew there was no reason for them to suspect she was inside the unassuming building, the sight of the logo put her on edge. She checked again to make sure IOI, or one of it's subsidiaries, hadn't bought out her ISP. If they had, they'd be able to track her. She checked it every day, and every day she expected to see the IOI logo on her ISP's main page. Luckily for her, she never did. Sighing, she walked over to the bed shoved into the corner, climbed in and went to sleep, not even bothering to remove her haptic suit. The stress of the day fleeing the compound after she'd sabotaged it, the frantic flight from Tyrant before IOI could set up defenses, it had all been tiring. Now she just wanted to rest.


	2. The Real World

Sombra heard footsteps coming from above her. Tensing, she grabbed her knife off of the bedside table she kept and crept up the stairs towards the door that led to the rest of the house. As she did, she heard a knock on the door. Then, a voice came through. "Sombra? It's me. I'm coming to deliver groceries again." She relaxed, and opened the door.

"Hey Gabe." The man standing in the doorway took a step back, then relaxed and grimaced. 

"Christ, those tattoos. I swear to god, one of these days you're going to give me a heart attack." Sombra started laughing. She'd gotten her tattoos when she had been a teenager, and they had a special ink that glowed in the dark. Half the reason she'd gone for invisible in the light, glow in the dark tattoos was to get this kind of reaction out of people. The other was it turned her into a living nightlight, and Sombra was (ironically, considering her name) afraid of the dark. "Anyway, I brought your groceries. Try to remember to eat today."

Sombra nodded, taking the bag of groceries Gabe was carrying. "So, how's the job going? Still making a profit being the last human cabbie in the city?"

Her benefactor laughed. "As long as there's still luddites who won't trust an autocab, I'll still have business. How's your... business... going?"

"Well. They're a buncha corporate drones, it ain't hard to trick them."

"Heh, yeah you're right on that one. You know, one of these days I'll get you to tell me your real name."

"Pff, please. No one knows my real name. And no one ever will." Sombra dug through the bag, looking for something. "Any booze in here? I've been missing it since I finished the last batch you brought me."

Gabe nodded. "Yeah, there's a couple bottles of tequila in there, and a fair amount of beer. Two bottles of wine upstairs, I'll go grab them. Not like I drink it, what with driving for a living."

"Tequila? Gabe, you spoil me!" Sombra's grin was wide, pulling out one of the bottle. "Oooh, and it's the good kind too. What're you trying to butter me up for now?"

"Nothing, just stocking you up. I won't be able to come back for a few days, since IOI is increasing it's searches for you. They know you're in the city, but not where. Me repeatedly entering an abandoned house will draw suspicion. This stock should last you till I can come back, and delivery can deal with the rest."

"Thanks, Gabe. You're a lifesaver." Sombra's expression darkened. "Both figuratively and literally." Her face was downcast.

The man in the doorway shook his head. "Keep your mind in the present, Sombra. Nothing you can do will change what happened." Sombra nodded, and carried the last of the groceries Gabriel brought into her room, fully stocking her fridge. While she did, she heard him talking again. "I hope you're not second guessing yourself, Sombra. You know you're doing the right thing- be proud of that."

Sombra held back tears so that her benefactor wouldn't see them. "Yeah, I know... I just wish I knew what my family would think, you know?"

"I'm sure they'd be proud. You're fighting for freedom- an admirable goal. Anyway- I have to be going. I've spent too long in here already, any longer and people will get suspicious."

Sombra nodded, and waved goodbye. She almost considered asking him to stay, but knew it wasn't safe for either of them. Left alone with her thoughts, they drifted back to her childhood, and how she and Gabe had ended up in this lonely place.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Mexico city, 2022. 10:32 PM**

Sombra ran. Ran through dingy alleyways, climbing up a dumpster to jump a fence. Voices followed her, angry and violent. She kept running until she saw a car sitting on the side of the road, and saw it's back door was unlocked. Opening it, she dived inside and shut it behind her, locking it and hiding in the well where passengers put their feet. She heard the voices pass her by. Then, a voice spoke from the drivers seat. 

"Hey kid, what're you doing in my taxi?"

Sombra paled. What if this new stranger was with them? What if he turned her in to them? She prepared to open the door and run again, but as she pulled the lock up it re-locked itself. The man in the front spoke again, turning back. "I wouldn't if I were you, they're still out there. I'll open the door once I'm sure they're gone. Mind telling me why you dived into my car?" Angry voices approached. The man grimaced. "Get down. Things might get ugly and I might have to move, fast."

Sombra ducked between the passenger seat and the backseats, trying to hide in the dark recess beneath the seat. The voices reached the car, and a man spoke. "Hey! You see a little girl run by? About 7 years old? She ran away from her parents, we're trying to help find 'er."

The man in the front shook his head, sadly. "I haven't seen any young girls, not this late at night. How do you know she didn't just head home?"

The man outside seemed agitated. "Alright, thanks. Come on guys, he hasn't seen her." As they walked away, a flashlight panned through the window and the man in the drivers seat gritted his teeth. The man with the flashlight grinned. "Hey, look who's in the backseat." His hand went to his belt, and came back up with a pistol. Before he could fire, there was a deafening crack from the front seat. Then, the man with the pistol fell, and the driver floored the gas. The car shot off into the night, leaving behind the dead man and his friends. The driver tossed his weapon, an ornate, wood-handled shotgun, into the backseat. 

"You know how to shoot? I doubt it, but... if you see them coming after us, just point it out the window at them and pull the trigger." They drove for almost fifteen minutes before either spoke again. "Are you alright?" Sombra had climbed back into the seat and buckled in. She nodded, still not speaking to the man. He smiled. "That's good. My name's Gabriel, though you can call me Gabe if you like." Sombra remained silent, and Gabe nodded. "I can understand you not trusting me right away. So, what happened? I'm going to assume by the fact he drew a gun on you you aren't a runaway."

Sombra shuddered. "They killed my family. They would have killed me. But I saw you kill one of them. How are you going to shut me up? Kill me yourself? Sell me? I'm not stupid, I've lived this long."

Gabe shook his head, sadly. "It's a shame a kid like you has to grow up in a world where the first hint of kindness is met with such suspicion. Anyway kid, what do you call yourself?"

Sombra thought back to a saying her mother had. _We're shadows, hija. The only way people like us survive is staying out of harms way, out of the attention of those more powerful than us._ "I... My name is Sombra."

Even though he was focused on the road ahead, Sombra could see Gabe raise an eyebrow in the rear view mirror. "Sombra, eh? I guess your parents were big on the whole Meaningful Name thing. Mine were too- I was named after an angel. Hey Sombra, got any ideas on where to go? We definitely can't go back there, not for a while."

They both thought for a while, then conversed about possible locations. Finally settling on a destination, they drove northeast. Several rest stops, restaurants, gas stations, and bathroom breaks later, they arrived. As they drove into the outskirts of the city, they looked for a suitably abandoned-looking house. Eventually, they found one that was sufficiently out of the way. Gabe parked the car, grabbed a flashlight, and walked up to the front door. Sombra followed him, after pulling a coat out of the back which, with it's hood and size, almost fully concealed her. looking around to see if anyone was watching. To both of their surprises, the door was unlocked. They crossed the threshold, and Sombra couldn't help but shudder. Something felt a little off. She opened a door that led down into a basement, and gasped as she saw an Oasis console sitting on the table, and various personal effects of what seemed to be a young girl. This house must not be as abandoned as it once seemed. She tried to get Gabe's attention, but then they heard it. A voice, of an elderly woman. "Hello? Is that you, Little one?" More than a little freaked out, they looked at eachother before approaching the source of the voice. When they found it, they stared. The woman lay in her bed, smiling. "Ah, not my little one. Are you here to claim my soul, then?"

Gabe blinked. "What?"

The woman's smile didn't falter. "They told me the grim reaper wouldn't look how I thought he would. The little one with you, is she here to bring me to the afterlife? Are you merely her guide?"

Now they both looked overly confused. Sombra pushed back the hood to reveal her face. "I'm no grim reaper... just a girl."

The old woman looked at her, expression saddening. "Oh... you remind me of my little one. Stolen by IOI, those bastards..."

Gabe stared in shock. "They just stole your daughter?"

The woman shook her head. "No, not stole. "Indentured" as they put it. I was in debt to them, but I am in no shape for work. So they took my little one instead. That was a year ago now... She was only four, by now... she'd be five. Old enough to do menial tasks. Young enough for them to indoctrinate." She seemed angry now. "But... it is too late for me to do anything about it. I am dying, no doubt about it."

Sombra's expression saddened. "I wish there was something I could do..."

The woman's smile returned slowly. "Ah, child, I have but one request... will you hold my hand, while the end comes? I want to know someone will hear me say goodbye. And if you ever meet my little one... Will you tell her I love her?"

Sombra nodded. "Of course! What's your daughter's name?"

The woman fumbled with the words, clearly not used to saying them anymore. "S...Satya. Her name is Satya."

Sombra smiled. "I'll make sure I tell her." She sat there with the woman, holding her hand. Gabe stood by the door, watching. Eventually, the woman's heartbeat slowed to a stop. Just before it did, they heard her whisper a quiet goodbye. Sombra and Gabe picked up the woman, bringing her to her back yard, one of the few houses in the outskirts that actually still had it. There, they buried her. Sombra looked up at the house after they had a moment of silence. "So... I guess we live here now?"

Gabe shrugged. "You can, if you want. I can run you supplies. I won't be comfortable somewhere so... empty. I've lived deep in major cities my whole life. These outskirts feel like a ghost town."

They deliberated, eventually deciding that Gabe would get an apartment further in the city, while Sombra would live in the house in the outskirts. Gabe would bring her groceries, and she would pay him back for them. Gabe was about to ask where she planned on getting the money when she grinned. "The Oasis is possibly the best thing to ever happen to scam artists and people like me. I can live almost entirely undetected and still make money, even at my age."

Gabe shook his head. "If you say so..."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra was startled back into the present by her stomach growling at her. Realizing she hadn't even started eating the food that'd arrived earlier, she got up and walked over to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of insight on how Sombra came to be living in an abandoned house.


	3. War Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact; when I first thought of this story, I had a twist planned where Sombra wasn't actually a person- She was a True AI designed by Halliday to perform the same job Ogg has in the story, keeping the contest's intentions safe. I decided against it when I considered that in the canon of RPO, true ai is still far off. So instead, you get to see Sombra as a real person.

The hunt for the jade key dragged on into it's second month, with seemingly no progress being made by any involved. Hana grew bored of opening the newsfeeds every morning to check to see if progress had been made, So she decided to continue her climb to level 99. After browsing some of the worlds with low populations, she found a strange, small world in sector 15, designed by fans and developers of a video game series that started in the mid 90s. Named Cydonia, it's quests seemed unique in that they were possible regardless of an avatar's power level. Curious, She looked up information on the quests. As it turned out, each quest was actually a series of scenarios from those games, with one quest for each that was an extended quest to play out a full campaign. She contacted Sombra, as Sombra had been looking for ways to level up too. She glanced at the contact card, while she waited for her to pick up.

Sombra: Level 32 Cyberpunk.

Sombra: "Hola. What's up?"

D.va: "Hey, you were looking for quests to do, right? You want to join me on Cydonia? They don't appear level-based. Might be some good loot up for grabs- due to that 'not-level-based' thing, most gunters have been ignoring the planet. Plus, it's not related to the 80s so it won't be related to the hunt."

Sombra: "How is it not level-based? But sure, I'll meet you there."

The two met on the planet, and D.va brought up a map of it's surface. On the small planet, there were 24 copies of the city Cydonia, for which the planet was named. As they explored the city, they found three quest gates. One labelled "Ufo Defense", Another named "Terror from the deep" and a third named "Apocalypse". Judging by their descriptions, they would allow avatars that entered them to play a campaign of the games of the same name. Also on the planet were 24 copies of an underground base, which had three quest gates too, along with a host of minor quest gates. One labled "Enemy Unknown", One labled "Enemy Within" And one last one (with a warning that this quest could take an extended period of time, up to a month or more) named "Long War" Which was the gate that the two of them decided on, since it was the most likely to have not been cleared by other avatars, and therefore the most likely to still have unclaimed artifacts. Over the next few weeks, D.va and Sombra spent most of their time in the Oasis making progress in the quest. In the quest, instead of personally controlling their avatars, they commanded squads of NPCs facing an alien threat, which was how the quests could be done without needing a certain player power level. As the quest progressed, the enemies got stronger, as did the NPCs controlled by D.va and Sombra, who took turns doing missions to avoid exhausting themselves. Occasionally, an extremely powerful enemy would appear that required the strength of the entire squad to bring down, and it was these enemies who would sometimes drop rare magic items that would spawn next to the two so they could divide up the loot. When they finally finished the quest, they piled the loot outside D.va's base. Sorting through it, most were minor magic items and consumables that would give them an edge, but nothing incredibly unique until they got to the major loot from the high level enemies. 

D.va examined a suit of armor that had dropped during the later stages of the mission, reading it's item description. "Mechtoid Carapace. Full body armor, has an activated power." After assembling materials, she cast a Divination spell on the armor to discern what it's power was.

Mechtoid Carapace; Activation phrase: Leviathan. Transforms the armor into an armored mechanical frame, enhancing the wearer's combat capabilities. Speak the activation phrase again to cancel effect. Power of both armor and transformed state scale with Avatar power level.

Sombra shrugged. "Based on that last bit, I'd say you should take it. You'll get a lot more use out of it than I will, especially in the PVP arenas."

D.va nodded. "Thanks. Hmm, What about this one for you?" She pulled a rifle from the pile, examining it. It too was an artifact, with a sleek design and insignia on the side. Upon examination, it's item description stated that it was a special type of Laser Rifle that never needed to reload, instead requiring charging, with a battery that could last two hundred fifty five shots. Like most of the loot, it's power scaled with Avatar power level. Tossing it to Sombra, D.va grinned. "No need to reload, that's pretty neat." At the bottom of the pile, was the quest reward itself. Interestingly, it seemed the quest reward was in fact, not unique, as there was two, one for each of them. It was a small, laminated insignia of the organization they'd just led to victory in the quest. It's item description was rather unhelpful, so D.va prepared another divination spell, already wincing at the cost. 

Pilot's insignia: Has no activation phrase. Wear on armor or over clothes. Touch center of insignia to summon ship with AI pilot.

It seemed the reward for this quest was a ship. Odd, considering almost all avatars who went this far into the major sectors had ships of their own. Experimentally, Sombra stuck the insignia onto her shirt, and it melded into the shirt perfectly. Upon touching the edge, she found it popped back into her hand, allowing her to move it from one piece of clothing to another. Then, she put it on again and tapped the center. A ship that resembled a small plane crossed with a helicopter landed a few moments later, and loudspeakers on the side projected the voice of the AI pilot.

"Big Sky, ready to roll." The voice rang out, and Sombra grinned.

"Hey, test out your new armor! I want to see what it means by "armored mechanical frame."

D.va nodded, putting on the armor and stepping a fair distance back, just in case she underestimated the size of the frame. Then, she spoke the activation phrase. Or rather, she yelled it like a hero from a kids cartoon shouting the name of their attack. "Leviathan!" 

Sombra doubled over, bursting out laughing. "Oh my god you sound like a Power Ranger." Then, she looked up to see what the armor had done. Standing at a good 8 feet tall, the frame held D.va in it's center, otherwise the spitting image of the enemy it had dropped from, down to the long plasma cannons that replaced the suit's arms. D.va looked down at herself, examining the suit's transformation, then experimentally tried to move, and found it was no more difficult than moving her avatar normally, except for having to account for her new size. When she spoke, her voice sounded distorted, as if wearing the armor had some sort of voice modulation effect.

"Man, this kicks ass! I'd like to get a rematch against Aech now, I'll destroy him! Then it'll be D.va 1, Aech... well, also one. but the point is I'd win!"

Sombra snickered. "Sure you would, you only had him dead to rights when he beat you last time."

D.va glared. "Oh, shut up." She spoke the activation phrase again, returning to her normal self. "Anyway, I need to log out and go get food. Talk to you later."

They waved goodbye, and Sombra smiled. "Bye, Dee."

She begun the logout sequence, and pulled her visor off. Redressing into her street clothes, she left her apartment to find food. After finding a restaurant and then a seat, she glanced around at the other people around. Most were uninteresting, but one woman caught her eye due to what she thought was a glove. When the woman turned around, Hana noticed the IOI logo stamped on her blouse, and what Hana had thought was a glove was revealed to be a top of the line prosthetic hand, though due to the long sleeved blouse she was wearing, it was impossible to tell if it was just a hand or if the entire arm was prosthesis. The woman was talking with a man also wearing an IOI uniform, and Hana eavesdropped.

"Satya, they're planning on moving you over to Oasis security detail- the attacks are getting more numerous, and we need as many hands as we can get protecting oologist assets." The man spoke, seeming to watch the woman's face for a response.

The woman, Satya, shrugged. "So, what will my new duties be?"

"Your new duties will be to protect IOI's assets within the Oasis. You will be provided a company avatar with high-end gear and as much money as you need to properly protect our assets. This job will likely require you to teleport to any installation we feel is under threat. You've always proven yourself time and time again as a valuable employee to IOI, Satya, and we trust you'll succeed here too. Your story is quite impressive, not many succeed in earning their way out of indentured service to IOI. And fewer still decide to keep working with the company afterwards."

Satya smiled, clearly proud of her achievement. Then her expression darkened. "Why have you brought me out to this... restaurant... to tell me this though? Surely I could have been briefed in IOI headquarters, or in the Oasis itself."

The man smiled. "IOI has a habit of bringing employees somewhere public to talk about reassignment, as in the past, employees have expressed concerns with feeling forced into it by the presence of IOI security. Of course, should you turn down this position you will return to your current one."

The woman nodded. "I don't see any reason to decline. Protecting IOI's interests is my job, after all."

From there, the conversation derailed into less interesting topics, including the man's half-hearted attempt at what was probably supposed to resemble flirting, and the woman's dismissal as if she didn't even realize what he was doing. After that, both fell silent. Hana stopped eavesdropping at that point, and planned to contact Sombra next time she logged into the Oasis. _"They're stepping up security... looks like Sombra's job is going to get a bit harder from here on out."_


	4. Difficulty Increasing

**Sombra's home, unknown location.**

 

"Hijo de puta!" Sombra punched the wall in frustration. For the third time in three days, she'd been made before she even had a chance to start her sabotage. IOI had stepped up security, just as D.va had said. And whoever was working on it now was _good_. almost unnaturally good. Sombra wanted to throw something, but held herself back. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of tequila, and poured herself a far larger drink than was probably a good idea. She put the bottle back, and drank. Once thoroughly inebriated, she logged back into the Oasis. She knew this was a terrible idea, but nothing else was working either. When she logged in, a message from D.va popped up. 

D.va: "You OK? you just logged out then back in real fast."

Sombra stared at the message, trying to think of how to reply. She almost replied immediately, before stopping herself. Instead, she called D.va over a vidcall. When she picked up, D.va looked concerned. "Hey Sombra, something wrong?"

Sombra's reply was slurred slightly. "IOI's pissin' me off. So I decided t' make myself a drink."

D.va's concern became even more obvious. "One hell of one, from the sound of it." Sombra hadn't turned off her real time expression, so her avatar's face reflected her own. Flushed and smiling a little too much. "Seriously Sombra, are you alright? I'm coming to get you- stay where you are." She started to stand up, before Sombra shook her head.

"Relax, chica, I'm not gonna do anything stupid. I just needed a drink to stop me from breaking my hand on the wall I was punching." Sombra really didn't want this conversation to end- she'd long ago given up any pretense of not having a crush on D.va, not that she was planning on admitting it. She kept herself in line by concentrating on the knowledge that D.va probably looked nothing like her avatar in real life. "Gives me something to do instead, you know?" She laughed.

D.va shook her head. "Sombra, seriously. I'm... I'm worried about you. I'm worried about my friend."

Hearing the concern in her voice made Sombra's heart beat faster. She felt terrible, making D.va worry. It was part of the reason why she knew it was a bad idea to keep their friendship going- but she wasn't willing to give the friendship up, either. With Gabe's visits becoming less and less common, D.va was one of the only people she talked to. The only one, actually. It had been two weeks since she'd last talked to Gabe, she wasn't even sure he was still alright. "I told you, Dee, I'll be alright. I just needed to calm down a bit. Now I'm a bit better, and I'm not planning on any more sabotages soon- I need to find a way to deal with their new security first."

D.va still didn't look convinced, but she nodded. "That's good. Be careful, Sombra. With you on the defensive, IOI might take the chance to go on the offensive and start hunting you. It won't end well for you if they manage to capture you."

Sombra snorted. "No shit, Sherlock. Thanks... thanks for talking to me. I really needed someone to talk to."

D.va raised an eyebrow. "How long has it been since you actually talked to another person?"

"Hmm... When was the last time you called me?" Sombra thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Whenever that was."

D.va blanched. "You haven't talked to another living soul in a week and a half?! Sombra, even I say that's unhealthy."

"Yeah, but you have people to talk to. You stream for a living, do pvp matches, and are wildly popular. I literally only have you."

"Well that's... a little depressing." D.va lowered her head, her expression turning grim.

"You think?" Sombra shook her head. "It's a lonely job, waging a one-woman war. An-" She looked up, and saw an IOI plane streak across the sky. "Oh, that's not good. Listen, D.va, I gotta go. I think IOI found me. I thought hiding out on a world that couldn't possibly be related to the hunt would be a good enough hiding spot, but it looks like it's not."

D.va looked concerned again. "Where are you? I can come get you. Or at least fight alongside you."

Sombra shook her head again, her expression determined. "No. They still don't know you're my friend, if you come to my assistance they'll start hunting you- and I bet your ISP is owned by IOI, so they'd have no problems tracking you down."

"At least tell me which world you're on! I can ready a ship for you to escape on without them ever seeing me."

Sombra looked up at the planet's night sky and saw the telltale glint of orbital mines. "It won't work- they've set up an orbital minefield already. They've got me cornered. But even a rat will face down the cat when there's no other options available. And what am I, if not a rat?" She grinned. "Don't worry D.va, I'll keep myself safe." She signed off the call, and stood, looking out at the ruined cityscape in front of her. Turning from the collapsed window, She opened a map of the planet to see where the nearest teleportation terminal was. She was on one of a group of worlds colloquially known as the Bethesda Cluster- A collection of worlds licensed from the company of the same name, porting their RPGs to the Oasis. Right now, she stood in a broken skyscraper in a simulation of post-apocalyptic Boston. An IOI ship landed higher on the building, and she began to run down the slanted side of the structure, noticing out of the corner of her eye a group of disabled robots. As she neared, her interface lit up thanks to her gloves, and she began turning the robots on one by one, activating their defensive programming. Soon, IOI soldiers dropped into the room, only to be greeted by a dozen robots of various kinds, from the heavily armored Protectron units to the glass cannon assaultrons and Mr. Handy units. Sombra herself kept running, out of the building and into the street. She managed to clear the city after a few minutes of running, though most of the IOI soldiers had survived the robots and were still after her. While looking back to see how many she still had on her tail, she stepped into a ditch, and fell forwards, shrieking as she did. She rolled a fair distance, before coming to rest face down against something hard. Then the something hard stood, and growled. Too afraid to move, Sombra opened one eye and looked up, seeing an immense lizard, which glared down at her. She expected it to kill her, but before it did, she heard the IOI soldier's voices. The creature looked up, and stepped away from her to growl at the soldiers, who drew their guns. Sombra shuddered, glad she wasn't the one who'd made that mistake. First activating her account recording option, she took the opportunity to look around, and saw a large egg sitting in the center of the indentation she found herself in. Her eyes widened as she realized what'd happened. "I've... fallen into it's nest." She slowly got to her feet, climbing away from the nest in the opposite direction of the soldiers and the monster that was currently destroying them. When she turned, she realized it was losing the battle. She drew her rifle, and took aim at the soldiers, firing down at them from the lip of the nest. As she did, the lizard turned to look at her, then realized she wasn't firing at it, turned back to the soldiers, and attacked with renewed fervor. With the combination of Sombra's rifle and the lizard's claws, the IOI soldiers were soon defeated, though Sombra knew it wasn't going to be the last of the soldiers on the planet. She smiled, putting away her rifle, and started to walk away. The lizard looked up at her, then returned to its nest. Sombra continued on until she reached the teleportation terminal, and input her destination. She teleported away, and when she arrived at her destination, she called D.va again.

D.va picked up on the first ring. "Sombra! Are you ok? What happened?"

Sombra grinned, and sent D.va a copy of the video she'd taken. "IOI bit off a fair bit more than they could chew today."

D.va watched the video, with interest. "I didn't know the AI of the Oasis was that advanced. That's really cool. I assume you got out via a teleportation terminal?"

Sombra nodded. "Yeah, there's a few terminals scattered around the Boston simulation."

D.va tilted her head "You... sound less drunk."

Sombra started laughing. "Well, adrenaline's a hell of a drug, apparently. Anyway, D.va, how's your pvp career been going? That new armor helping any?"

D.va smiled, holding up a picture that displayed her recent win/loss rate. "Absolutely! I'm on a roll, and no one's gonna stop me!"

Sombra smiled back, happy to hear D.va sounding happy.

D.va's expression suddenly changed to something Sombra would almost call devious, then shifted back to happy almost as quickly. "Hey, can you meet me on my Planetoid? I have something to show you."

Sombra gave her a skeptical look, but agreed. When she arrived, D.va invited her in. They sat at one of the TVs in her base, and D.va grinned. "So, you know how your gloves make machines work how you want them to? These-" she pointed down at her gloves. "Do something similar but with avatars- they distort how the haptics react to disorient and confuse." Sombra suddenly looked concerned. "So, why have you brought me here to show m-"

D.va reached out, and grabbed Sombra's shoulder. She yelped as her haptics suddenly started acting oddly, giving her feedback where there was none. Then, her visor started to distort her vision "Christ D.va, please stop it! this hurts my head..." 

D.va lifted her hand, and grinned. "See, pretty neat, huh? But here's my favorite part-" she reached out again, but Sombra ducked out of the way. 

"No, not again. I'm not having you make my head hurt like that again."

"Oh, I promise this won't hurt." D.va started laughing. While Sombra was distracted thinking through what she'd said, she grabbed her arm again.

Sombra gasped as her entire haptic suit felt like it was _vibrating._ "G- oh god, stop! STOP!" Sombra whined. Her expression was obvious to D.va, who lifted her hand, still laughing.

"See, I told you that wouldn't hurt." She shook her head. "You really should trust me more~"

Sombra stared at her from across the couch. "D.va, what the fuck. Why would you- what made you think that was a good idea?!"

D.va suddenly felt a bit guilty. "I- I'm sorry, I thought you'd find it funny like I did..." then she snickered. "You clearly enjoyed it in at least one way, though." Seeing Sombra wasn't laughing, she took off the gloves and stepped close. "Are you alright? I... I really am sorry." She wrapped her arms around Sombra, smiling.

Sombra looked away, trying to not let D.va see her blush deepening. Her thoughts intruded, manifesting itself as a mocking voice in her head. _Well, this certainly complicates your feelings, doesn't it?_ She shook her head to clear it, then smiled. "Yeah, I'm alright, you just surprised me. Anyway, I need to eat, so I gotta log out. See you some other time." She stepped away from D.va and began the logout sequence, pulling off her visor. She considered for a moment, Then set the visor down on her table and wandered to her fridge to find something to make for food.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**IOI corporate, Office of Nolan Sorrento.**

Sorrento looked across the desk at the woman sitting in front of him. He had been informed she had been responsible for the defense of the Oasis bases, and had asked to see her. He spoke first. "So, you've shown that you're remarkably adept at finding infiltrators in our Oologist bases across the Oasis. I'm curious; How have you been finding the infiltrator so fast?"

The woman across the desk smiled. "Simple. I've instructed the avatars around the base to show some specific tic every few seconds- something specific to their employee number, such as twitching their left hand, or glancing over their shoulder. Finding the infiltrator is then a simple matter of finding the employee not showing one of these tics, or once they figure out about the tics, showing the wrong one for their ID."

Sorrento sat back in his chair. "Impressive. We could use someone of your talents in the Oology division, have you ever considered a transfer?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't have the knowledge of the decade required to be able to participate in the contest, nor the direct mechanical skill at video games. I'm far more suited to security."

Sorrento looked a bit disappointed. "A damn shame. Anyway, I'm sorry to waste your time. Thank you for the information, and you may return to your post, Miss Vaswani."

The woman nodded, stood and left the room.


	5. Satya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long delay- I took a short hiatus from writing to prepare for college, but now I'm back and ready to write.

Satya frowned down at the drink sat in front of her. She looked around at the assembled IOI employees, all from the security team, with some from the Oology division. It had been three weeks since the infiltrator's last successful attack, and the team was celebrating their newfound seeming invincibility. Satya was less inclined to believe that the infiltrator would give up so easily- soon enough they'd attack again, and this time they might be successful. She was about to push the drink away when one of her coworkers sat down next to her, laughing at some joke another had told. She resisted the urge to glare at them, and simply returned to frowning down at her drink. 

"Satya! What's goin' on? You should be celebrating- You're the leading cause of the infiltrator's misery! Everyone up the corporate ladder has been commending you, even Sorento, and he doesn't give out praise without cause!" He flashed a grin that was clearly meant to cheer her up, but it clearly didn't have it's intended effect, as he then sighed. "Come on Satya, live a little. Work isn't everything, you have to have fun sometimes." He laughed again. "All work and no play makes Satya a dull girl, after all." This time, she did glare at him, and he seemed to get the hint. Shaking his head, he stood and walked away. "Jeez, talk about ice cold." Satya hunched into herself, leaning against the wall. She wished she had come up with an excuse to not come to this party, or at the very least it was in a less public location- The noise, the lights... Everything seemed too intense. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the exercises she'd learned as a child to calm down when this started happening. Deep breaths... It would be unprofessional, not to mention extremely embarrassing for her to have a breakdown here. Fearing the worst, she decided to leave before something could happen, or at least isolate herself. She stood and walked to the restaurant bathroom, locked herself in a stall, and leaned on the door. Away from the noise, it seemed more bearable. After a few minutes, she sighed and opened the door.

A young woman that worked with Satya met her by her table, and whispered to her as she passed. "Satya, are you feeling alright?"

Wearily, Satya nodded. "I'm fine, I just don't particularly enjoy parties." She sat down, and glanced at her drink again. "Or alcohol, for that matter."

The woman sat down across from her, nodding. "OK, I trust you to know when you're not alright. If you need to, let me know and I can get you out of here- I'll give the others some excuse- One of us is sick and the other is driving them home." 

Satya nodded, smiling. "Thank you." After a moment, she considered her drink again. Maybe it would make the others more bearable, or at least less likely to come harass her over not participating in this inane event. Sighing, she picked it up and tentatively took a sip, grimacing. It tasted even worse than she expected. She set it down and resolved not to drink anymore. If they wanted to inebriate themselves, they could go right ahead. The woman next to her laughed.

"Not to your taste?"

"No."

"Well, no one can say you didn't give it a try."

Satya nodded again. "They cannot." She looked at her watch, and shook her head. "I believe however, that I am going to take my leave."

The woman nodded. "Alright Satya. See you at work tomorrow."

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D.va sat in her ship, waiting as it travelled. Sombra was talking with her over a video call, though she wasn't paying attention at the moment. When suddenly Sombra burst out laughing, D.va looked over, curious. "What's so funny?"

Sombra, recovering, pointed at something D.va couldn't see. Then she realized, and elaborated. "Some asshole drew porn of you after your last stream!" She returned to laughter, nearly doubling over.

D.va blinked. "What the _fuck_?!"

Sombra waved her hand, trying to stop laughing, unsuccessfully. "I swear to god!" after a moment, she stood straight again. "Look!" She adjusted a setting in her Account, turning a window visible in the call. D.va put a hand over it, glaring.

"Why the hell would I want to look at that?!" then she thought for a moment. "Why are *you* looking at that?"

Sombra's face went red, and the window disappeared. She stammered for a moment, then a logout icon appeared above her head, and the call cut. D.va, still annoyed, waited for her to call back. When she didn't, she huffed and logged out herself. Her avatar would still be in her ship when it arrived, and it was set to orbit her destination when she arrived. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hana pulled her oasis headset off, climbed out of her haptic chair, and sighed. Glancing at her calendar, she realized it was close to her yearly Charity streams- That cheered her up some, as it was always fun. Last year's top donator has requested she play through the Legend Of Zelda series, and she'd set an entire week aside for this set, since it was a rather long series. She'd already downloaded the emulators, but hadn't played any of them- She'd be going blind into it, but she'd heard it was a great series, especially from Sombra. There was also a world in the Oasis recently built to house replicas of the games, so she could visit that as a finale for the stream if she finished the series before the week was up.


	6. The Hunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did Sombra really think she could hide forever? Or hide her feelings, for that matter?

Sombra stared at the wall, oasis visor in her hand. Her face was bright red, and her expression was horrified. "Sombra." She spoke to herself. "What have you done." She dropped her oasis visor to the table, stood up, and paced the room. "D.va probably thinks I'm some freak now. I doubt she'll return my call, hell, I bet she's probably blocked me." She hunched into a corner, still in a minor panic. During her panic, something flashed on a computer screen. An alarm. "Oh fuck off, what now?!" She stood, stepped over to the computer, and opened the alert. Her eyes widened. "Oh no. No, nonononono..." Four vans with IOI logos on the side had just driven into her perimeter alarm. She immediately logged into the oasis, and called D.va.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D.va looked at her alerts. Sombra was calling, but did she even want to answer right now? She shook her head, sighed, then answered the call. "Yes?" Her expression immediately changed when she saw the blind panic on Sombra's face.

"D.va oh god thank you for answering I need help."

"What- what happened?"

"IOI found me." 

"You've gotten away before."

"I don't mean my avatar, I mean they found _ME._ "

D.va took a step back, eyes wide with shock. "What... what do you want me to do about it?!" She started to panic too. "Get the hell out of there!"

"I'm going to! But I need to tell you something first."

"Oh my god Sombra if you say you love me I'm going to fucking kill you."

"No, it's not that. I have a number. I need you to call it. Tell them the vault's been breached."

D.va blinked. "Al...right. What's the number?"

Sombra gave her the number, then took a deep breath. "Alright. Time to go. See you on the other side." She grinned, which made D.va pause before logging out to call the number. "First time I'll have been outside in three years. Lets see if I still remember how to run like the rat I am."

D.va nodded. "Give 'em hell." Then, she logged out. Pulling off her visor, she almost ran to her phone, picked it up, and called the number Sombra had provided. When the person on the other end picked up, she heard a rough, older man's voice. "Gabe's taxi. Last human cabbie in Columbus. Where are you, and where can I get you?"

Hana breathed deeply, then spoke. "The vault has been breached."

The voice on the other end paused, and Hana almost thought she'd been hung up on. Then the voice spoke. "Address. now. I'll meet you there in under 10 minutes."

Hana gave the man her address, then started to get ready to go outside.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra picked the knife off of her desk, then walked over to her computer. She pressed a series of commands, then turned to look at her Oasis console for the last time. As she watched, an incendiary in her computer detonated. Then another in her oasis console. Nothing would remain to give any trace back to her Oasis account. She looked sadly at the tequila she'd never gotten around to finishing, then decided. "Fuck it, not like IOI will do anything but sell it." She grabbed the bottle, downed what remained of it's contents, and then stepped out into the house. She then smashed the bottle against the door to the basement, leaving a pile of broken glass that would give anyone passing trouble. Following that, she ran outside. Taking her first breath of truly fresh air in three years, Sombra dashed through the small yard of the abandoned house. Soon she disappeared into the Columbus stacks, though she kept running through the floor. A man tried to grab her, but she ducked under his arm, jabbed with her knife, and he yelled and jumped away. She pressed on, until she was running through the main city streets. As she ducked through an alley, she saw an IOI van drive past where she'd just been. Eventually, she reached a large, nondescript building. Sprinting directly at the door, she slammed into it shoulder first.

And bounced off the door, falling to the ground. Looking up at the door, she groaned in pain. Then, to her surprise, the door opened. No one stood inside, so it must have been remotely unlocked by the owner of the property. She looked back over her shoulder, and saw an IOI van pull into the lot. She climbed to her feet, and sprinted inside. The door closed behind her, but she didn't hear it lock. Turning to make sure, she realized the door didn't seem to have a lock she could manually activate. She ran further into the building. She clambered up onto a table, then onto a tall filing cabinet, then threw a paperweight at the lightswitch, and the lights died. In the dark, her tattoos lit up.

"Attention Escaped Indent. IOI has the authority to use force to take you in. Please surrender." A man's voice echoed through the room. Then, the two IOI employees who'd entered saw the glowing skull, a fair bit above head height.

"What th-?!" The first man had time to stammer out, before Sombra shrieked and dived off the cabinet, crashing into the man, bowling him over and rolling to her feet. She ran off into a different section of the open office space, darting under a table, she waited. A man stepped forwards, looking around. She lunged at him, bringing the knife up, but the second man caught her arm. 

"Haha, good try. Told you it'd work."

The man she'd attacked glared. "And if it hadn't, I'd have a knife in me! What if you were wrong?" 

"But I wasn't. And now we have her."

"Remind me of our orders again, what were we to do with her?"

The man holding her laughed in a way that made Sombra _very_ nervous. "Our orders were to, and I quote, use any means necessary to track, disable, capture, and return the infiltrator who has attacked IOI compounds within the Oasis."

The second grinned back. "And, we have done that. But I feel she isn't quite... Disabled enough." He laughed, and stepped close. "Wouldn't you say? She looks like she thinks she has a chance of getting out of here." 

Sombra was bodily shoved into a wall, where her head hit and she staggered backwards, dazed. Then a fist hit her temple and she dropped like a stone. Before unconsciousness took her, she heard the voice of the man who'd been the bait. "So... What should we do with her? IOI's sec team isn't expecting us to report for another 20minutes." The other man just laughed. Then the world went black.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Satya stood in the abandoned house, looking around at the furniture, the wallpaper. It all seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. She walked through a hallway, stepping carefully over broken glass, and opened a door. It led down into a basement, where she saw the smoldering remains of an Oasis console and a computer. She glanced around the room the infiltrator had been living in, and noticed a small framed picture on a desk. A picture of a smiling woman- or rather, a smiling Oasis Avatar- signed 'Love, D.va.' The picture at first took her off-guard. She hadn't really considered the infiltrator as a person, so much as an annoyance to be dealt with. Similar to a fly, or a mosquito. Looking around the room, it was clear they were much more than that. Much more than just an enemy of IOI. She sighed. It was one thing when she was working against an avatar, but quite another to really consider the person behind the visor. She still couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity of the entire building, but she ignored it. She needed to search for anything that would give them information on the infiltrator's Oasis account- a username would be enough. Then they could track their movements, if only by digging through gunter message boards looking for people talking about them. As she turned to leave, she saw something sitting on a cot tucked into the corner of the room. Sitting by the pillow, was a teddy bear. She felt a pang of guilt seeing it. It would have been hard to live in a place like this undetected. Extremely isolated. Satya thought about how she would feel about being forced out of her home, to have a stranger going through her belongings. That was what she was doing right now. She looked back at the half-melted computer. 

"This is my fault..." She sighed. "I cannot falter. IOI is counting on me." She climbed the stairs, and looked at her watch as she went. Still another 15 minutes before the team sent into the inner city was meant to report.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hana was at the front door to the apartment building she lived in when the cab pulled up. A man in a black cap sat in the front seat, face set in a tight grimace. "Get in."

Hana paused. "How do I know you're not going to kidnap me?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Sombra trusted you enough to tell you what to say when you called me. I'm a friend of hers- I've probably been running her supplies for longer than you've been alive. Do you want to help her or not?"

Glaring, Hana nodded. "Of course I do!"

"Then _get in._ " After she slid into the back seat, he handed something back to her. A handgun.

"Um." Hana stared at the weapon.

"Never fired a gun before?"

"No. Or, I mean, not outside the Oasis."

"Right. Hopefully, you won't have to." The cab shot off into the street.

"Where are we going?"

"A building a friend of mine owns. Me and Sombra agreed to meet there if IOI ever found out where she lived." A few minutes later, they pulled up to a non-descript office building. 

"What, is your friend a business owner?"

"No, but he rents this building out to businesses. Right now it's not in use, since the last people moved out and the new renters haven't moved in yet." He walked up to the door, and looked up at the camera. "It's Gabe."

"Gabe?" Hana raised an eyebrow. "With Sombra's name being so dramatic I didn't really expect her mysterious ally to be named Gabe."

"Unlike Sombra, I trust people with my real name. It's short for Gabriel."

The door opened, and they heard voices from within. Male voices. Gabe's hand instantly went to his weapon, an ornate shotgun, while Hana clutched the handgun tight.

"So, we've still got time before we report. I don't see why we don't just kill 'er and get it over with. It's not like IOI is gonna let her live."

"I bet Sorrento, or one of the other higher-ups wants the pleasure of killing her himself. We were given strict instructions to only kill her if absolutely necessary."

Gabe's voice broke into the conversation. "I'm afraid none of that will be happening. Leave. Now." He punctuated this statement by bringing his shotgun to bear, aiming it at the two men. They both took involuntary steps back, staring at the weapon. Then, they ran. Gabe turned to watch them go, then looked around the room. "Seems clear."

Hana rushed into the room, looking around. She saw a woman layed out on a table, unconscious, but breathing. What truly concerned her was her state- clothes scattered around the floor, and a knife laying on the ground nearby. She was at the table in a moment. She could already guess who this was. "Sombra?" The woman lay still. Gabe approached, then stepped back, covering his eyes.

"She's breathing. I'll... I'll leave you to deal with that."

Hana nodded, starting to pick up Sombra's clothes. Under one, she noticed something that made her eyes go wide. A used condom lay on the ground under Sombra's jacket. She immediately stood and gently shook Sombra. "Hey... are you alright?"

Sombra stirred, looked up at her, and smiled. "Dee...? You came to help..."

"'Course I did. You're my best friend, Sombra."

The woman on the table flushed red. "You uh... Even after what I did earlier?"

Hana nodded. "What kind of friend would I be if I let something like that get between us?"

Sombra laughed. "A sane one." She looked down at herself. "Um... what the hell?!"

Hana frowned, worried. "We found you like this. There was uh... also..." She looked away, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

"What? There was what?" Sombra looked panicked now.

"I found a used... condom... beneath your jacket."

Gabe, from the area of the room he was in, spoke up. "I never should have given them the chance to run. I'm so... sorry, Sombra. I should have-"

Sombra slowly climbed off of the table, getting to her feet. "You couldn't have known, I'm sure they hid it under something on purpose. So that it wouldn't be found by whoever from IOI came to claim me. They knocked me unconscious before they stripped me, so they clearly didn't want anyone to know." She shuddered, then turned to Hana. She seemed to consider for a moment, then stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around Hana, who blushed bright red.

"S...Sombra... you're still naked."

"I know... I love you, D.va." Sombra still had her head resting on Hana's shoulder. Hana looked at her, and laughed. Sombra looked hurt, and she stopped.

"S-sorry, I just forgot I never told you my name. It's Hana. Hana Song. So... you never told Gabe yours either?"

"Yeah... funny story. It's been 23 years since I last used my real name. I sorta... forgot. Sombra might as well be my real name now."

"Well, I think it's a good name. And... I love you too. How long have you uh... had a crush on me?"

"Well, since around a month after we met. But now's not the time for that, we need to get out of here. IOI will be coming."

Hana agreed, and after Sombra dressed herself, they got into Gabe's car and left. They ended up going to Hana's apartment, where the three of them sat in the small room, disussing how to proceed. After a while, they decided Sombra would live with Hana. Once Gabe left, Sombra looked over at Hana.

"So... time to do something about that "I love you" we talked about earlier?" Her hand reached for the hem of Hana's shirt. Hana laughed and pushed her away. "Maybe tonight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, the story isn't over here- There are still keys to be found, gates to be cleared, and Satya's tale is only beginning!


	7. Recovery

Hana sat in a chair across from Gabe, as in Hana's bed, Sombra slept.

"So, how'd you meet her?" Hana questioned. Gabe raised an eyebrow, not expecting the question.

"Sombra? Met her 23 years ago, in Mexico."

"That's _when_ not how." 

"Right, right. So, I'm sitting in my cab in Mexico city, and I hear gunshots. Honestly, not that uncommon, which is a shame. Anyway, I'm on edge a bit because you know, gunshots. After a minute or two, I see a child running through the street looking like she's looking for somewhere to hide, so I unlock the back door and make myself a bit hard to see by leaning down. She gets in, and I talk her out of running any further. Turns out, gang killed her parents, and were looking to make sure there were no witnesses."

Hana stared, and shook her head. "Oh, jeez. What happened after?"

"A group of 'em found the car, and asked if I'd seen her. Made up some bullshit excuse, then one of 'em saw her in the back and drew a gun. I'm ex-military so... reacted a hell of a lot faster than he did. Took the shot, floored the gas. Didn't stop until we were running on fumes."

"So, you saved her. Its... hard to believe anyone would want to kill a child."

"Agreed. Hell, hard to believe anyone would want to kill her now, not like she's even threatening IOI's ability to win the contest... she's doing her best, but it's one woman vs the world, you know?"

Shrugging and shaking her head, Hana sighed. "They care enough to try to hunt her down."

Gabriel nodded slowly. "Yeah, that they do. Anyway... I'm gonna tell you something I don't think she knows I know."

Hana paused, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Her name. Something she thinks no one knows at all." He grinned. "Really, she didn't do a great job searching if she thinks no one could have found it."

"You gonna tell me then, or just keep waffling?"

"Right, right. Anyway, did some digging on crimes from mexico city at about that time. Colomar family found dead, daughter Olivia missing. When the gang member's body was found, most everyone assumed the girl must have been got by the gang and sold or something."

"So... her name's Olivia." Hana nodded, looking over at where she slept. "Why are you telling me?"

"Felt like you ought to know, since it seems like she's going to be living here. Anyway- I should go. I got a business to run, you know. See you around, Hana." He stood, waving, and stepped out the door.

Hana waved in return, yawning as she sat down, picking up her oasis visor, putting it on, and leaning back.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra slowly sat up, stretching and yawning, but tensed up when she realized she didn't recognize her surroundings. It took her a minute, but the events leading up to her ending up there came back to her. She looked around again, and noticed Hana on her couch, logged into the oasis. She went to sit by the younger woman, and snorted when she heard snoring. She sat down, pulled Hana into her lap, and yawned. Gently extricating Hana from her oasis visor, she set it down and let her sleep.

Hana woke up about an hour later, stretching and laughing when she realized what she was sitting on. "Hey, we should get you an Oasis console. There's a store just down the road, we should head out soon. I'm gonna get dressed." She stood, headed for a dresser, and began to get dressed while Sombra stood, looking down at herself.

"Well, all my clothes are still at my old hideout. Guess I'm wearing this for a little while more."

"We'll get you some clothes too! Oh yeah, I was planning to upgrade the internet here, direct fiber to the server vault, so that IOI can't track the connection. Come on, we'll be back before you know it." Grinning, Hana headed for the door.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Satya sat in her chair in her office, logged into the oasis. She kept one window open with her coorporate communications. The Oology division were talking about possible locations for the next key, the security division talking about the fact that the infiltrator's computer was destroyed, unfortunately severing any thread they had to lead them to her. There was also note of a powerful artifact recently bought, something that would help them in the hunt. Satya couldn't have cared less about the hunt, but IOI winning the contest was best for the world, she told herself. They would improve the oasis for everyone, even if some of the changes weren't popular. She sighed, sitting back, and joined the conversation.

431885: Why aren't we continuing the search for the infiltrator? We had them on the run, and surely they had a base in the oasis. They have no console, we can find their base and destroy it.

425660: Because we have no idea where it is. It could be anywhere in any sector, the infiltrator never hit the same place twice. Plus, if its on a private world we can't get to it at all.

Satya decided to voice her opinions now, remembering what she'd seen in the infiltrator's real world hideout.

432234: The infiltrator is done, she won't bother attacking us again, too risky. They know we found them once, we'd do it again if they made themselves a nuisance. It is a waste of IOI resources to continue pursuing them while they are no threat.

431885: Well yeah, but we had her. The retrieval team HAD her. Someone got her out and that means she has allies. Allies that could get her back into the oasis.

432234: It's irrelevant, its too risky for her to attempt to infiltrate again. I need to return to my work.

With that, she closed the conversation and went back to what she'd been doing.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hana and Sombra sat in the restaurant, a bag with a new Oasis console and some clothes in Sombra's size sitting between them. Across from them, sat a couple of Hana's friends.

"So, you... use your Oasis avatar's name even offline?" The woman across from them looked confused. "Seems a bit out there, no offense."

 

Sombra shook her head, and laughed. "Call it what you will, I won't pretend it's normal, just who I am. Hell, even Hana doesn't know my real name." 

Nodding, Hana shrugged. "I'm sure I can convince you to tell me, but eh, I won't pry."

The woman across the table snorted. "Maybe, considering your actual job is to talk, you should be pretty charismatic."

"Yeah yeah Lena, how's your job as a pilot going anyway? Airlines are getting pretty steep with their prices lately."

The woman, Lena, sighed. "Yeah, they are. It ain't raising my pay any though, covering the fuel costs of planes is pretty damn expensive. There's some designs in the works for electric planes but they're in purely the planning stages from what I hear. Solar power planes would be a huge leap, considering planes could have solar panels built into their frames." She pauses for a moment. "I'm uh, rambling a bit aren't I?"

Hana grinned. "A little, but it's interesting."

Sombra nodded. "Never really thought about solar powered planes, but yeah, that'd probably help make plane flights way cheaper."

"Yeah, it'd be nice to see people other than the wealthy elite on my flights. They get pretty demanding. Anyway, what've you two been up to recently? I know what Hana does, but not you." She nodded to Sombra.

Hana spoke first, smiling. "I've got my charity streams up next week, And a tournament soon too." After that, she turned to Sombra. "I uh... don't think I've ever asked either. What _do_ you do, Sombra?"

Sombra shrugged, sitting back. "A variety really. Lotta freelance tech support, occasional oasis programmer, just general tech stuff. Not much interesting going on other than the occasional idiot so bad with tech that it's amusing."

"I see." Hana shrugged, and grabbed the bag sitting between her and Sombra. "Well, was nice talking with you, Lena, but we gotta get Sombra moved in." She set money down for the meal, and waved as she stood to leave. Lena stood up, gave Hana a short hug then sat down, and turned to order more food. Sombra followed, waving too as she left, snickering. Hana blushed, shaking her head. "Don't get any ideas, she has a girlfriend."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Hours later.**

Satya sat in her car, looking at the house she'd been sent to after the infiltrator. It felt _too_ familiar. She sighed, leaned back in her seat, and opened her phone. A few messages, mostly from IOI. Some spam, but nothing more. Producing a book from her bag, she started to read.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabe sat down across from a man in a sports jacket. They said nothing for a while, looking at each other, before Gabe spoke. "So... you're stateside."

The man nodded, looking at him. "Yeah, for a few days. I'm headed back out before the end of the month."

"I don't suppose you're here with good news, huh?"

"I wish." The man said dryly. "You know how it is, when was the last time I gave you _good_ news?"

Gabe closed his eyes, nodding. "Right... who, then?"

"Amari's MIA, assumed dead. I'm here to deliver the news to her daughter."

"Shit... hell, of any of us I thought she'd be the last. The woman was unstoppable. Maybe... maybe I never should have left."

The man grunted, and sat back. "I don't blame you for leaving. None of us do. She didn't either."

"Yeah, I know... I just wish I hadn't. But I had to, I could feel it... turning me into something. Cold. Uncaring. Couldn't keep killing or I would've become a monster."

"Don't have to explain yourself to me, Gabe. On that... depressing note, how's your... project doing?"

"Almost got caught by IOI yesterday. She's somewhere new now, hopefully somewhere safe. She's not alone anymore, which I hope helps with her nerves."

"How'd they find her?"

"Hell if I know man." Gabe shrugged, sitting back and looking out a window. "Seems like they just... stumbled onto the right house. That or someone told 'em, but I'm the only one who knew which house it was, so that can't be it. What about you guys? Other than... well, you know."

"We're mostly fine... Soldiers are hard to break. If it's affecting Wilhelm at all, he isn't showing it. If anything, he's more up to a fight than ever. Wants to take the fight to them, to make sure it doesn't happen again. I haven't had a chance to talk to Ziegler, but they were good friends... I'm worried about her. Other than that, we're pushing on."

"Sorry to hear... hope it goes well. How do you think her daughter will respond?"

"Hell if I know, with what Amari said about her, I half expect her to demand to fly back with me. Whatever happens, can I trust you to keep an eye on her?"

"Of course. Amari was as good as family, her daughter gets the same."

"Good to hear. I... I should get going. I don't have anything more than an address and I need to make sure I get there while she's home." The man stood, sighing as he took his leave.

"Talk to you again."

"Right." He turned, leaving the room. His footsteps were heavy, and Gabe could tell he wasn't entirely honest with how he was doing.


End file.
